Quattrocchi Art

The kokanee are spawning all through the Kootenays.  I haven't had a chance to paint any redfish yet you all will have to make do with this one from a few years ago is of some coastal salmon.  I'll get to work on a new salmon painting this week.

There are many ways to approach a painting.   Using a poppy as subject I explored three of them.  These are all quick sketches, 9 by 12 inches. The first watercolor is done alla prima, directly painting the subjects as positive shapes.  This yields a strong and vivid image that grabs your attention.  It doesn't have much of the transparency of traditional watercolors though. The second painting was done by painting the space around the poppy, using the background to "draw" the flower.  This gives a more ethereal and transparent look. The third painting is a hybrid of the two approaches with the use of underpainting.   painted a warm area where the flower would be and used cool colors for the rest of the background.    The flower was then defined using negative space and then painted with stronger colors.

As I mentioned in my last post, the colors in the Kootenays are very different from the mountains of the coast, brighter, warmer.  Looking through my older work however, I was struck by the richness of color that I still saw in the coastal ranges. This watercolor was inspired by the jagged peaks and glacial lakes of the Cayoose  range near Pemberton.  The colors were vivid on the rare times the sun peaked from behind the clouds,

Kottenay Light Watercolor 9-12 inches Its been a year since we moved to Nelson and I feel ready to post some of the work I have done. It seems that I have to learn how to paint again.  The colors and the atmosphere is so different from the coast.  It is so much more vibrant and varied.